Just a few short decades ago, Civil Rights activists fought for the ability to desegregate schools and provide equality for all students. Graduation ceremonies have long highlighted the accomplishments of all students based on merit – from stellar academic records to athletic prowess and mastery of the arts – regardless of race, gender or other factors.
Today, though there is a rapidly growing trend to replace the traditional and inclusive ceremony honoring all graduates for their accomplishments with programs that are instead segregated by race. According to a report released by the National Association of Scholars recently revealed that over 75 of the nation’s colleges offer graduation programs that are segregated by race or ethnicity. These programs are not mandatory, but offered alongside the traditional graduation services. They exclude those of other races or ethnicities from attending or celebrating.
According to the National Association of Scholars, a survey of 173 schools found that almost half (a total of 76 schools) offered these exclusive ceremonies that excluded students based on race. The schools are not small, unheard of institutions – they include large, well-known and regarded universities across the nation. Harvard, Stanford, Yale and UCLA are all offering race-based commencement programs this year.
While most of the segregated ceremonies are for black students only, some are for Hispanic graduates. There are no segregated ceremonies for white students. Most of the segregated programs are created and hosted by student groups, academic departments and faculty members or campus resource centers. Each group defines its own requirements for attendance, but most are black students only, excluding other races entirely.
Some other groups are represented as well; LGBT only graduation ceremonies are becoming more common, as are those focused on Latino students. Even illegal aliens have a segregated ceremony at Harvard. The “UndocuGraduation” debuted at the school this year at Harvard, designed for illegal alien graduates only. One of the speakers for this new program was arrested in 2017, he was protesting President Trump’s approach to DACA students.
It’s hard to see this as anything else but as the modern version of segregation.
According to the National Association of Scholars, schools featuring these increasingly race-based programs consider them to be part of a “neo-segregation” movement on campus. The report also states that “neo-segregation is the breeding ground of racial conflict in American society.”
“Neo-segregation inculcates in young people the readiness to cling to a victim identity at the expense of becoming a positive member of the larger community,” the report reads. “No doubt a large portion of the racial grievance politics we see in society at large these days is the carefully nurtured product of campus neo-segregation.”
The growing trend of racially divided programs extends beyond graduation. Clubs, dorms, centers and other initiatives for black, LGBT or Latino students only are cropping up at universities of all sizes, creating an increasingly restrictive environment for all.
~ Conservative Zone
